D.A.R.E. GRADS CELEBRATE

KITTERY, Maine - If 11-year-old Ashley Ridlon experiences peer
pressure to use drugs or alcohol, she's going to picture Sgt. Russell
French's face.

That image, she says, will help her to say "no."

Ridlon met French through the D.A.R.E. - Drug Abuse Resistance
Education - program. Nearly 100 fifth-graders from Frisbee School
graduated from the program Friday.

Students, teachers, parent volunteers and five Kittery police officers
celebrated the graduation at Fort Foster. Police officers flipped
burgers while the students, wearing their newly earned D.A.R.E.
T-shirts, gobbled up barbecued grub.

French said the program, which has been recently updated, "was a huge
success."

This fifth-grade class was instructed with a new curriculum of
D.A.R.E., after studies questioned the value of the program.

"This is a research-based curriculum, and it's scientifically proven
to create results," French said.

The new curriculum had French taking a more proactive approach to
teaching. Now, he's not just teaching the students how to say "no,"
he's teaching them how to take charge.

The new curriculum calls for a 10-week program vs. the former 17-week
program.

Despite what research says, the students at the cookout Friday said
they would have preferred more time with French.

"He's pretty cool," said fifth-grader Jonathan Thibeau, who will tell
any peer who pressures him that he doesn't want to try drugs because
they would hurt his body.

Fifth-grade teacher Bee Cloutier said the students love the program
almost as much as they love French.

She said if the concepts that are taught by French are enforced at
home, "it will take hold and stay with them."

There are at least a few students who are convinced the lessons French
taught them will stick with them forever.

Nicole Clark carried a large toy lion around with her at the barbecue
Friday.

Every student, in order to graduate from the D.A.R.E. program, was
required to submit an essay on what they learned though the 10-week
course with French.

Clark earned the lion after her essay was chosen to be one of the
best.

"I really enjoyed D.A.R.E., and I expressed that through my entire
essay," Clark said. "It really helped me to know how to make the right
decisions. It tells you how to choose the right friends and how to
stay off drugs."